Drug seizures and serious organised crime disruption by Police Scotland continues
Pro-active action by Police Scotland officers between October and December 2021 saw more than £4 million worth of illegal drugs recovered and a number of people arrested.
Figures to be presented to the Scottish Police Authority this week show that in the final three months of last year, controlled drugs, including heroin, cocaine, crack cocaine, cannabis, herbal cannabis and hundreds of thousands of Etizolam tablets were seized by officers across the country.
Assistant Chief Constable Tim Mairs said:
“I am encouraged by the figures that show that Police Scotland, in partnership with the Serious Organised Crime Taskforce, continues to make progress, is having an impact on those involved in serious organised criminality and is keeping our communities safe.
“As a single service, we are able to deploy specialist and national resources to support local activity and these results highlight the positive impact this is having across Scotland.
“Results show the value of the Scottish Crime Campus, where agencies including HMRC, Border Force and the National Crime Agency work extremely effectively together by sharing information and intelligence. This contributes to diverting young people from becoming involved in organised crime, deters groups from infiltrating legitimate business sectors, detect offenders and causing maximum disruption to their nefarious activities.”
The reports also details that during the quarter more than 700,000 illicit Benzodiazepines tablets were removed from circulation and four large scale industrial pill presses were recovered.
Throughout 2021, 24 pill presses with the ability to produce millions of tablets, including Diazepam, Valium, Etizolam and Alprazolam, were seized during operational activity.
Assistant Chief Constable Mairs added:
“The seizure of these pill presses will undoubtedly have a massive disruptive and negative impact on the activities of those involved in the production of the tablets. The removal of these machines from operation will have a corresponding positive impact on Scotland’s communities."
